The Story Of An Hour

Chopin brings us the experience of a very conventional, seemingly happily married woman of her era. But this woman's response to the death of her husband is anything but conventional. The reader is left with a sense of shock at her behavior, and a sense of irony at the end, and many, many questions. In Kate Chopin's short story, "The Story of an Hour", Chopin use things around and within Mrs. Mallard to describe the theme of irony, symbolism and imagery.

The irony can be seen in the totally opposing feelings of the protagonist and society. The story unfold with the reader discovering that Mrs. Mallard "was afflicted with heart trouble", which is irony. A quick reading of the phrase might mislead the readers to think that Mrs. Mallard has heart disease. Yet, Chopin chose her phrase with care. She wants her readers to know that Mrs. Mallard has a "spiritual condition not a medical condition" (Wilson 266). The story ends with the narrator telling us that Mrs. Mallard "dies of the joy that kills," which is also irony. The doctor is led to believe that Mrs. Mallard dies because she was happy to see her husband alive, as the readers were led to believe that the "sudden grief" killed her. Mrs. Mallard couldn't live with thought of having to once again give up her freedom and live with her husband (Wilson 266). Chopin is trying to say that freedom was more significant than love but her freedom died alone with her. When Mrs. Mallard saw her husband she passed and the doctor said she died of a joy that kills but the doctor did not understand that she actually died of sadness. Because now she was to be once again in her husbands presence once more and this she could not bare.

Several symbols in Kate Chopin's "Story of an Hour" create a feeling of comfort, wellness, and wonderfulness within the reader's mind. In the 6th paragraph, Mrs. Mallard notices "patches of blue sky showing here and there through the clouds." The blue sky, symbolizing delight, is starting to appear through the clouds, showing there are good things coming. The clouds symbolize her marriage. The blue sky acted as a guide to Mrs. Mallard's mindset. Her happiness was about to begin (Rosenblum 3908). As Mrs. Mallard sit in a chair near the window, she look through